The invention relates to a combination instrument having a base body which is split into display areas oriented at different angles relative to one another, and having a rigid main printed circuit on the back of the base body.
Combination instruments of the above type are present in motor vehicles today and are therefore widely known. The different orientation of the display areas usually serves to improve the readability of the displays, as a result of the display areas being oriented toward the driver. Such combination instruments result in difficulties caused by the electrical connection of the individual instruments and of the electrical and electronic components. In practice, each display area has a separate printed circuit oriented parallel to the respective plane of the display area so that a instruments, for example, can be arranged on it at the desired angular orientation. The arrangement of a plurality of separate printed circuits gives rise to undesirably high costs.
The invention is based on the problem of designing a combination instrument of the type mentioned in the introduction such that it can be manufactured as economically as possible despite the arrangement of differently oriented display areas.
The invention solves this problem by means of the feature that an additional printed circuit extending over a plurality of display areas is arranged on the front of the base body, and that the additional printed circuit comprises rigid printed circuit parts which have flexible connecting regions with conductor tracks in the junction region of the display areas.
This structure allows a single printed circuit to be used for the various display areas, by this printed circuit being bent in its connecting regions according to the different orientation of the display areas. Since the connecting regions have conductor tracks, they do not need to be electrically connected to one another in additional processes after the printed circuit has been fitted. In addition to this is the fact that handling only a single printed circuit for a plurality of display areas instead of separate printed circuits for each display area represents a major simplification.
The flexible connecting regions can be produced particularly economically if they are formed by a reduction in the thickness of the printed circuit in the connecting regions.
If a particularly high level of flexibility is required and different distances between the connecting regions on account of wide manufacturing tolerances need to be compensated for, then another development of the invention allows provision for the connecting regions to be formed by u-shaped portions.
The additional printed circuit can be held on the base body without separate attachment means if instruments and light boxes attached to the base body are mounted on the additional printed circuit.
The base body can be matched to different physical circumstances if, in accordance with another development of the invention, the display areas on the base body are connected to one another by flexible connecting pieces.
A particularly high level of flexibility for the connecting pieces is achieved if the connecting pieces are of unshaped design transversely with respect to the plane of the display areas.